Digital Citizenship Summit Launch Event for U.S. Media Literacy Week to Take Place at Twitter Headquarters

Diverse range of speakers and participants to address safe, savvy, and ethical use of social media to be hosted at Twitter Headquarters in San Francisco on October 28, 2016

(San Francisco, CA – May 23, 2016) – On Friday, October 28, 2016, Twitter will host the Digital Citizenship Summit launch event for U.S. Media Literacy Week at their San Francisco headquarters. The Digital Citizenship Summit, a major gathering of organizations, industry, parenting experts, students, and more, will bring together new, well-known, and unexpected voices from a wide variety of backgrounds for a fast-paced and energetic mix of presentations, panels, videos, and awards. The day will be live-streamed to a large global audience, and seeks to broaden the appeal and accessibility to digital citizenship and media literacy. “Digital Citizenship” has been defined as “the norms of appropriate, responsible behavior with regard to technology use.” [Dr. Mike Ribble, author of Digital Citizenship in Schools.]

The Digital Citizenship Summit will serve as the kick-off event for U.S. Media Literacy Week (October 31-November 4) led by the National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE). Media literacy “is the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, communicate and create using all forms of media [NAMLE],” and an area of heightened relevance so close to the presidential election. “We are thrilled to be partnering with the Digital Citizenship Summit and Twitter on this event,” says Michelle Ciulla Lipkin, Executive Director of NAMLE. “We are excited about bringing thought leaders in digital citizenship and media literacy together. There is so much to be done to ensure a media literate world and exploring digital citizenship is a great way to get the conversation going.”

“Society has adopted new social media platforms and technologies before we have collectively had the chance to determine what constitutes safe, savvy, and ethical behavior,” says Digital Citizenship Summit co-founder David Ryan Polgar. “There are multiple stakeholders who desire an active role in the process, including students, educators, parents, administrators, media specialists, and organizational leaders. All of these groups have crucial insight, and the Digital Citizenship Summit was setup to bring these voices together to solve current issues regarding social media and tech use.” The issues, according to Polgar, are endless. “Some major areas of concern include how smartphones should or shouldn’t be used in the classroom, finding ways to improve civility online, adjusting to an Internet that never forgets our posts, and being able to determine the veracity of what we read online.”
By bringing together a broad range of experts, organizations, and interested parties, the Digital Citizenship Summit on October 28 will take a multi-stakeholder participatory approach to solving some of the vexing issues regarding social media and tech use. Partnering organizations include the National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE), Common Sense Media, Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI), #iCANHELP, ConnectSafely, iKeepSafe,and Trend Micro’s Internet Safety for Kids & Families.
“We are thrilled to have the involvement of so many prominent organizations,” says co-founder Dr. Marialice B.F.X. Curran. “By collaborating on this event we can expose a wide audience with some incredible resources that can be used at home or in the classroom.” “At the same time,” chimes in David Ryan Polgar, “the open and collaborative nature will bring forward new voices that can influence this important conversation around social media and tech use.”
“We want people impacted by tech and social media to feel empowered,” Curran continues. “Instead of being reactive, we want people to be active participants in the digital future. We want people to be the digital change.”
More information can be found at DigcitSummit.com.